Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 8, 1990 TAG: 9003081815
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TRACY WIMMER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
And then there's this shapely nurse. See? And she and a doctor wrestle poor Alice into a straitjacket. And then she takes a syringe as long as your arm and shoots him in the neck. See? But he keeps singing and eventually, he strangles her. And the next thing you know, she's lying on stage dead and the audience is screaming. And Alice? He's still singing.
Welcome to the Alice Cooper nightmare, circa 1990.
Fortunately the nightmare is no longer the major focus of an Alice Cooper show. On Wednesday night, before a crowd of 1,800 in the Roanoke Civic Center auditorium, the monster of shock rock put on an exciting and electrifying show. Fortunately, the nightmare was not the main event.
Cooper alternated between songs off his recent smash release "Trash" and his multimillion sellers of yesteryear. Both were done extremely well. It's the stage show that's a bit tired.
When Cooper appeared at the Salem Civic Center almost 20 years ago, reporter Joel Turner described his concert as a "mind-bending, provocative and fascinating experience." And it probably was - then. But what was mind-bending then has become trite today. Cooper's voice is as strong as ever. Who needs to see him drag out that old guillotine covered in blood and have his head chopped off?
His band played a tight show. As with any heavy metal, hard rock - or whatever you want to call it - group, no one could understand the words. But on a lot of tunes, the audience sang them by heart - "Billion Dollar Baby," "Eighteen," and "School's Out" - to name a couple.
His new release worked equally well - "Poison," "House of Fire" and "Spark in the Dark" revealed an audience as familiar with the lyrics as he was.
The band - tighter than tight - was worth the cost of the ticket. And the solo electric guitar performances of Al Pitrelli were about as good as an audience could hope for.
Cooper went through the hour and a half show like a well-oiled machine, talking to the audience in an energized yet stilted manner. No one cared.
From the onset, it was apparent that the man who used to dazzle audiences under an alcoholic haze was gone. Cooper appeared in better shape than ever - hopping around stage in red leather pants and sleeveless white T-shirt like someone a third of his age (42). His androgynous dancing was much the same except now he's added a little Steven Tyler-like thrust - which works.
If you are into metal, "Trash" is good stuff.
What was disconcerting was having interviewed Cooper earlier and he said, "I've go to do my old stuff or the audience will kill me." Maybe. But it would seem Cooper could do his old stuff without all the theatrics.
An artist with Cooper's talent should not be shackled to the past by his fans.
by CNB